Satch: I own both a current model Kia Cerato SX 2L and a current model Kia Optima EX. I have to say I am completely satisfied with both cars having owned them both for over a year.

The Cerato SX 2L is a great little (very roomy for a hatch in fact) card has all the bells and whistles. My only wish is that the 2L engine was a little more peppy, but we only use it for around town and it does that job perfectly.

Do not underestimate Kia. Sure they used to be very budget, but now they have the ex Audi chief designer working for them, they have come a long way.

I would recommend giving the Cerato some more time.

Thanks very much for your feedback, it's good to hear from an owner of the vehicle - although I only drove the car for about 1.5 hours I agree that the engine could do with a bit more pep. It's still an option however as the main requirement is a small practical family car and it's priced really well, I'm going to be borrowing it overnight to make sure that I'm happy with it. I've read a rumour that the Cerato will get the 1.6L turbo from Hyundai in the facelift, it's tempting to wait for that. I really like the aggressive styling of the Peter Schreyer Kias, although I think the new Sportage coming out is a bit of a misstep.

I went to the Ford dealership to take a look at the Focus, I'm not sure if it's just Dunedin City Ford but they were probably the most eager of all the dealerships to sell me a car. I was instantly offered fleet discount because I'm a company director (even though I'm buying it privately) and told me I could have it for the weekend. The Ford has quite a few problems (mainly that it's Euro), it's got the smallest boot at 316L (apart from the Mazda3 which I'd already excluded at 308L), there's not much room in the backseats and it has no ISOFIX connectors - how a modern car can exclude these I'm not sure.

Satch: The Cerato SX 2L is a great little (very roomy for a hatch in fact) card has all the bells and whistles. My only wish is that the 2L engine was a little more peppy, but we only use it for around town and it does that job perfectly.

Thanks very much for your feedback, it's good to hear from an owner of the vehicle - although I only drove the car for about 1.5 hours I agree that the engine could do with a bit more pep.

I'm a bit surprised at the suggestion that the 2L Cerato isn't 'peppy' enough. The 210Nm of torque might fall a bit short on those hills north of Dunedin, but the 130kw of power should give you very capable straight line acceleration.

I went down the diesel route because I do a lot driving on the steep windy ranges around the Rimutakas, Kaikoura, Nelson, etc and the extra torque makes a big difference in that environment. For anything else I would think I would be quite happy with the engine in the Cerato.

Satch: The Cerato SX 2L is a great little (very roomy for a hatch in fact) card has all the bells and whistles. My only wish is that the 2L engine was a little more peppy, but we only use it for around town and it does that job perfectly.

Thanks very much for your feedback, it's good to hear from an owner of the vehicle - although I only drove the car for about 1.5 hours I agree that the engine could do with a bit more pep.

I'm a bit surprised at the suggestion that the 2L Cerato isn't 'peppy' enough. The 210Nm of torque might fall a bit short on those hills north of Dunedin, but the 130kw of power should give you very capable straight line acceleration.

I went down the diesel route because I do a lot driving on the steep windy ranges around the Rimutakas, Kaikoura, Nelson, etc and the extra torque makes a big difference in that environment. For anything else I would think I would be quite happy with the engine in the Cerato.

Right choice for hill work , diesel gives peak power at low revs. It is why it is best for real 4WD's and trucks.

MikeRetired IT Manager. The views stated in my posts are my personal views and not that of any other organisation.

alasta: I'm a bit surprised at the suggestion that the 2L Cerato isn't 'peppy' enough. The 210Nm of torque might fall a bit short on those hills north of Dunedin, but the 130kw of power should give you very capable straight line acceleration.

Fair comment. It is a 2L hatch after all. I love it regardless. The ventilated drivers seat and satnav are great! Absolutely no issues with the finish inside either. And remember this is coming from an owner of a Cerato for 1+ years, not someone who may have kicked the tyres of one in a car yard or has a preconceived opinion of the KIA brand like others perhaps...

Satch: Fair comment. It is a 2L hatch after all. I love it regardless. The ventilated drivers seat and satnav are great! Absolutely no issues with the finish inside either.

I agree, the finish inside was very nice and much cleaner and better laid out than the i30 in my opinion. I thought the ventilated driver's seat (or "bum cooler" as I call it) was going to be a gimmick but it was actually pretty nice after sitting in the car for a while. Regarding power it might just be that my Rav (which has around the same power but a bit more torque) has a more sensitive throttle and I just need to adjust, the longer road test should put my mind at rest.

meesham: ... Regarding power it might just be that my Rav (which has around the same power but a bit more torque) has a more sensitive throttle and I just need to adjust, the longer road test should put my mind at rest.

This can be a significant contributor to the initial 'feel' of driving a car, I reckon. I recall a conversation with someone about the CX5 they were driving which they reckoned had really slow initial pick-up, but I think this just reflects that Mazdas have relatively "insensitive" accelerators. Someone driving my wife's car (a Jazz), which has a really sensitive accelerator, may have the impression that it's got faster pick-up than my Mazda6, which does really need to have the accelerator pushed down to deliver. Personally, I like this as it makes driving economically in town far easier and needs a conscious effort to (literally) floor it.

jonathan18: This can be a significant contributor to the initial 'feel' of driving a car, I reckon. I recall a conversation with someone about the CX5 they were driving which they reckoned had really slow initial pick-up, but I think this just reflects that Mazdas have relatively "insensitive" accelerators. Someone driving my wife's car (a Jazz), which has a really sensitive accelerator, may have the impression that it's got faster pick-up than my Mazda6, which does really need to have the accelerator pushed down to deliver. Personally, I like this as it makes driving economically in town far easier and needs a conscious effort to (literally) floor it.

Yes, my SP22 gives a very limited response with light throttle pressure but if you really bury your boot then you get a nice surprise. Like you, this setup is appealing to me because I get the performance I want without having the car run away on me in 50km/h zones like my father's RAV4 seems to do.

alasta: Yes, my SP22 gives a very limited response with light throttle pressure but if you really bury your boot then you get a nice surprise. Like you, this setup is appealing to me because I get the performance I want without having the car run away on me in 50km/h zones like my father's RAV4 seems to do.

Same engine! (I've got the 6 Limited diesel.) When I do drive my wife's Jazz it's all too easy to use too much gas (which may explain her fuel economy...).

We bought a 2010 Kia Sportage (last iteration before the new shape) from new. Never had any issues. Services were always reasonably priced. Cam belt quote was rather exorbitant but that's a job for next year when we hit 100k. The 2L engine is a bit under powered for the vehicle size - so make sure you do a serious hill climb in the car.

Parts are good quality. Just today I replaced the brake pads for the first time (after 5 years and 95K). The guys said they would've been fine for another few months.

Build quality is good but not as good as our previous Honda (which we also bought new).

jonathan18: This can be a significant contributor to the initial 'feel' of driving a car, I reckon. I recall a conversation with someone about the CX5 they were driving which they reckoned had really slow initial pick-up, but I think this just reflects that Mazdas have relatively "insensitive" accelerators. Someone driving my wife's car (a Jazz), which has a really sensitive accelerator, may have the impression that it's got faster pick-up than my Mazda6, which does really need to have the accelerator pushed down to deliver. Personally, I like this as it makes driving economically in town far easier and needs a conscious effort to (literally) floor it.

Yes, my SP22 gives a very limited response with light throttle pressure but if you really bury your boot then you get a nice surprise. Like you, this setup is appealing to me because I get the performance I want without having the car run away on me in 50km/h zones like my father's RAV4 seems to do.

This is also the very reason I hate being behind Mazdas as they do seem to all suffer from a lack of responsiveness to the throttle and combined with the typical oblivious NZ driver that doesn't notice their speed changing constantly with slight road undulations it makes them a menace.

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."- John Stuart Mill

We have found it an excellent car for our needs. The only issue we have had was mechanic inflicted and that can happen with any brand.

My advice is put as much effort into who you buy a car from rather than which, almost all new modern cars are reliable, inconsistencies occur far more often in who is working on them rather than design issues

Thanks for everyone's assistance and advice, I pick up my new Kia Cerato SX 2.0L this afternoon :) I decided to look around a bit more and then wait until just before Christmas so that I could get a better deal with them trying to get rid of 2015 stock, I got one for $34K including 3 years free servicing. There's a facelift model coming out second quarter next year but the pictures don't look that different to the current model and the engine's staying the same, we're planning on keeping the car for a number of years so the reduced trade-in value doesn't really bother us.

I ended up looking at (and testing):

Ford Focus - nice engine and steering, uncomfortable seats and a tiny amount of space in the back and boot. At least they got rid of that problematic DSG but I'm still not sold on Ford reliability

Ford Kuga - I didn't like the engine (2.0L Ecoboost) that much and again found the seats uncomfortable

Nissan Qashqai Ti - Nice seats, engine was OK and even the CVT wasn't too terrible, I loved the all-around cameras, price was the problem and even though it's got similar dimensions to the Cerato my wife thought of it as a big car because of the elevated ride height

Corolla - Underpowered

Honda HR-V - Good space in the back, the suspension was way too soft so I was bouncing around when driving at speed on the country roads, the multimedia system was terrible.